Press freedom is an essential feature of a democratic society. Without press freedom a constitutional democracy cannot function properly, to the extent that the degree of press freedom becomes an indicator of the level of democracy in a particular country. That historically press freedom in Indonesia has been the exception rather than the rule is therefore telling, but even today, when Indonesia’s democracy seems to have become relatively stable, press freedom is constantly under threat.

Press freedom has never been guaranteed explicitly in Indonesia’s Constitution, but can be subsumed under the concept of freedom of expression, which in 1945 was already mentioned in Article 28. In spite of this provision, Indonesia has seen many preventive and repressive rules enacted by subsequent regimes since it became independent, targeting films, books, paintings and other forms of expression. As this book will demonstrate, the press in particular has been targeted by the authorities, through restrictive and repressive legal or non-legal actions, including censorship, banning, criminalisation, and violence.